New XPS 8900 No video/Black screen

Hi,

Regret the inconvenience ! If display is good on a external screen then the LCD Panel is working fine.

Also confirm if the LCD BIST(Built in self test ) has been performed by restarting the system and then press the D-Key on system startup. If the LCD Panel is working fine then solid colurs are displayed on the screen.

Also confirm if the same issue is seen with charger or battery.

Awaiting your response.

Regards,

Hi InTheZoneAC,

Can you check a few things for me on the 8900 Desktop :

1.Are you able to use the onboard DP connection and does that make any difference (remove the NVIDIA GTX 745 1st before trying it)?

2. Do you have other input cables - DVI, VGA  - that you can use on the NVIDIA GTX 745 and if so do they also show the same dim/blank screen at the Dell logo or F12 menu?

3. Are you using a Dell monitor and what model is it e.g. U2414H etc?

4. Are you using any display dongles between the Graphics card ports and the cable? If so can you connect directly e.g. HDMI-HDMI, etc?

Thanks

Let me know how VGA goes.

If you haven't already done so, I'd also advise updating the BIOS

Also go into the BIOS and under Video - Primary Display change the setting from Auto to NVIDIA Graphics and test. If the same thing happens, change it to Intel then power down, remove the graphics card and test again.

The reason you can't boot to Windows7 media could be due to there being no USB 2 ports on the system. Try this support article and see if you are able to boot into the Windows 7 USB media

Will do with the VGA later

Yesterday I also downloaded BIOS from the dell site for this configuration and it when I tried installing it told me a newer version was already installed. I forget the number that said was already installed, I believe it was 2.1.0. The newest one available to download from dell is 2.0.3. I installed it anyway, but nothing seems to change with the pre-OS screen issues.

And I did test the onboard graphics when nvidia was removed and set the bios to "intel", no change. Tried with nvidia installed with bios set to auto and nvidia and neither changed the results I keep seeing.

As for the USB issue, I guess I learned something new because I thought only the "blue" USB ports were 3.0 and the "black" ports were 2.0. Making sure the usb was connected before powering on I attempted to boot from the rear blue and black ports, the top black ports and the front black ports.

Thanks for that work around link for windows 7 usb 3, I will give that ago as well.

Thanks again

I have a standard 24" asus monitor that's 2 years old, no display port option.

I can boot to the desktop and see everything just fine, my problem is the splash screen/pre-OS screen where the dell logo is initially clearly visible, and after that second the dell logo is dim. If I choose any pre-os option outside of F2-Bios I cannot see the display at all(but again if I let it do it's own thing on a normal statup to go to windows I can see my desktop just fine)

I haven't tested all the cables, but I've used the onboard hdmi port, the gtx hdmi port, and the gtx dvi port. All results are the same for the above tests. I'm not sure what changed, but before all my freezing issues, meaning the 1st day or 2 I got this I clearly remember seeing F2-BIOS and F12-Boot Options or Settings, listed on the dell splash screen.

I know my monitor and cables are not the issue because I can use other computers to the same port with the same cable and everything is good all the way from powering on to the desktop. It's just this 8900 refuses to work in way possible.

I can test a VGA cable when I get home, but I'm sure it's going to do the same thing. Even after a clean reinstall I downloaded all the dell drivers again, for the gtx and intel hd, still no difference.

I've tried testing directly from pc to display using dvi or hdmi on all ports, but it's now setup where I'm using an HDMI hub where I can select ports and it's easier to switch inputs to test the "brief" display on this malfunctioning 8900, instead of having to manually disconnect/reconnect the cable to see something for a second. And I can easily switch over to my operational x51 when not toying with this 8900.

I have run the dell diagnostics with no errors along with the windows 10 file system checker, forgetting what it was called. I have not run the display test, the option before the Windows 10 loads up and I can try that this evening.

Other notes:

I've already emailed dell tech support with every freezing issue I've experience daily, along with trying windows 10 on the factory 1TB HDD and my 128GB Samsung SSD. I can't even boot to my old windows 7 DVD and I can't boot to a USB with Windows 7 ISO. I've searched freezing with windows 10 and some people have had absolutely no issues when going back to 8 or 7. I have 3 other computers in the house with windows 10, all are running fine despite the initial upgrade being a nightmare, but this 8900 with win10 already on it is just terrible for me. Errors galore in event viwer.

If I can't get this resolved this is just one more problem i can report to dell so they don't question all the problems I've had with this computer across the board. Was supposed to be a Christmas gift, nothing but frustrations

Thanks for the help

I was able to install windows 7 to the SSD. What I also found out is that I have to set the bios to boot legacy devices, as soon as I enabled that(I had disabled stupid secure boot already, which needs to be disabled for legacy anyway) I could see the extra available boot options and also the bios now lists the CD/DVD drive along with USB and Network options as bootable devices in the boot order section..

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit was installed last night and this morning it was asleep, but NOT frozen. I downloaded all the drivers but am having an issue getting the M.2 AC 7265 Wifi/Bluetooth Card to show up. I can clearly see the devices in device manager with an ! showing it's not properly installed/configured yet, but was unable to get it to show up even when I manually installed drivers for this card.

Went ahead and put in my 16GB ram last night as well and everything seems good to go. Once I get all the devices showing they're properly configured in device manager I was thinking about Windows 10 again.

All my other working computers had to manually be upgraded from 7 to 10 and they work fine now. I can't remember everything when I did those upgrades, but do all the drivers carry over during the upgrade? I was thinking with all the permission and driver issues on this 8900 with 10 preinstalled, even though it was showing everything is running properly, what if I were to upgrade from 7 to 10 on this computer?

Would it be the same as a fresh 10 install and I have to download all the drivers again, or would all the existing drivers carry over and I'd just have to update the ones that aren't compatible? Would 10 actually work differently/better from a 7 upgrade if 7 works fine on this one with no freezing? Just a thought...

Thanks

That's good you managed to get Win7 installed. 

If you're still having problems installing the Wlan driver try installing it from Intel here

When upgrading to Windows 10, Windows checks the compatibility of your components and installs the relevant Windows 10 drivers. In my experience there's no discernable difference between an upgrade and clean install of Windows 10

Windows 7 still froze every day over the weekend so this rules out what I thought was a Windows 10 issue.

Dell is supposed to call me today or sometime this week, this computer just needs to go back because I've done more than enough to "troubleshoot" a new computer.

And even under windows 7 I don't see anything under event viewer that suggests what froze the system. I just see my normal warnings that I've seen every day and I see the error that the system didn't cleanly shutdown(I'm assuming this is from me having to power off by holding the power button once it freezes)

This computer has frozen on me while using the factory 1TB HDD as a boot drive, or my 128GB SSD as a boot drive, and using factory ram or aftermarket ram.

Worst computer by far I've ever owned, hopefully I can get one that works...